If Only For A Moment
by MillenniumKitten
Summary: My take on what happened after Luke has his first experience with someone wanting to kill him. Nice and short. Rated K because he swears.


**If Only For a Moment**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss**

**Hey! Thanks for clicking and I hope that you like it. It's my first for this game. I discovered the game through Tales of the World because I loved Luke's character and immediately had to purchase it for the 3DS. Please enjoy.**

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"H-H-He was g-going to k-k-kill me." Luke holds his head in hands, shaking from his spot on the ground. All he's ever wanted was to know and to be free to wander the world. If he would have known that it'd lead to this, then he wouldn't have ever wished to leave. Life could have been simple; he could still be back at home sitting on his bed and thinking about when his next practice with Van is going to be.

"It gets easier," Tear places a hand on his slumped shoulder. When his eyes trail p that hand he saw red. A gash right below her shoulder, that's all the soldier had gotten out of her before she had punched him. Her right hand that squeezed the wound was red from her attack, proof that she had hit someone. "I promise. Find something or someone you want to protect and imagine a blade put to their neck."

With one last squeeze she walks away to sit beneath a tree to address her wound, leaving Luke to sulk or do whatever his aristocratic attitude would permit. It would get easier…even if he had to imagine something like that. The power to fight wasn't something everyone is born with, especially if that person has a pure heart.

Like he seems to.

He thought for a few seconds that he would cry. He wanted to, that and yell to the heavens that this was all her fault. After all if she had never interfered then he could have remained ignorant. He could have remained safe.

"Let me help," Luke kneels beside her left arm with a hand outstretched. For a moment Tear is starring, maybe in disbelief. "W-What?"

"I just thought…"

"Just thought what? Oh forget it!" Luke went to stand but she grabbed his forearm immediately. Instinct driven…she didn't want him to leave.

"Thank…you." It sounded more like a question then an actual thank you.

"For what? You're the one who got hurt." Luke snorts. He watches as she unbuttons each shiny button of her coat and tosses it aside. She would have to mend it later.

"Compared to what I've done to you…this is nothing. In fact it's barely a scratch." Ripping up some spare cloth she hands some to him. "Tie it around my arm."

"What do you mean?"

"Just wrap it around-"

"Not that!" _Sometimes this woman…_

"I've taken you from your home and placed you in danger. It's my fault that you're being forced to kill…and it's my fault that you're scared. I should have never come to that manor," She's looking into the fire as she speaks instead of into his eyes. He wondered what she was seeing. "But I _will_ take responsibility. I'll get you back home and safe, you won't have a scratch on you. Even if that means a repeat of today, I'll gladly jump in front." She nearly bit her own tongue when he tightened the make shift bandages.

He was an idiot, so she doubted that to be an accident.

"Idiot! Your acting like my time with you has been all bad. It hasn't!" Luke checks his handy work. He had to admit that it didn't look half bad for his first time. On the other hand he thought about how many more times he might have to do this.

"…" She's actually looking at him now, expecting him to go on.

He decides to humor her. "After all…I did get to see the outside world because of you…it's beautiful you know, when people aren't hacking at each other." She thought about his smile and how it could light the fire within people's hearts. He wasn't just some stuck up aristocrat…or at least not at this moment.

"Oh…and if you _ever_ throw yourself in front of me again," Luke's smile turns into a frown, his eyes narrowing into a healthy glare that she was getting quite accustomed to. "You are going to be so sorry that it didn't kill you! You're a girl, act like it!" He sat with his back against the tree trunk, their shoulders brushing slightly.

"In return," Tear is looking back into the fire instead of in his eyes. "Don't give me a reason to throw myself in front of you."

"Yeah, yeah. You're such a pain." The two spent a good amount of time watching the fire lick at the logs, never speaking. Perhaps the silence was a sign of their neutral truce. Or perhaps they both knew that there was nothing left to say, nothing else needed to be said between the two as they both sat watching the fire burn.

He watched, thinking about his life back at home. How it was so much different from what it is now. Alone, he would sit in his room and wonder what it would be like to be outside. Sure he was aloud out in the garden but that was about it, he could practice his swordsmanship and yet he used to think about what he would need it for.

Outside people learned to wield a sword to survive. They didn't learn because they wanted something to do to pass the time, they had to learn. He never knew about that.

Wars were fairy tales told in books that he hardly ever read. They weren't a part of his life…or at least he didn't think that they were. Even know he thinks about how much the war really was affecting his life back at home.

Now that he was out…he couldn't believe what he sees. Small villages with barely enough to eat, people running in fear of being killed, and those who kill just because they have the ability to do so. It was ridicules and something that he wanted nothing of.

And yet there were the beautiful things that he got to see as well. The flowers that could never be found in the garden were among these things. That and…Tear.

He shakes his head to clear it and continues to watch the flame.

In the morning when he found Tear with her hear on his shoulder, sound asleep instead of getting mad and casting her aside he found himself smiling at her. Perhaps last night would be their last night of peace. He closed his eyes and placed his head back against her own in an act of trying to extend this time just a little longer. Unknowing to him, she smiled…perhaps thinking the exact same thing.

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**Read and review. Hope you liked my tiny little one-short :3**


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